The present invention relates to all combination locks in which the combination can be freely set or changed to any other combination by the user.
Combination locks have existed for many years. The most common combination lock uses a fixed set of numbers that the user may choose from to select the desired combination. All existing commercially viable combination locks have used 10 tumbler positions and two, three, or four sets of these tumblers to make up the lock. The more tumbler positions there are, the larger the number of possible numeric combinations to choose from. However, all these numeric locks have the same problem. The user must remember a numeric code made up of two (00-99), three (000-999), or four (0000-9999) digits. These numbers have no meaning and are often difficult for the user to remember. Children and the elderly often forget the number they entered and stop using the lock.
Many people are dyslexic or have memory and cognitive limitations, and remembering 4 numerical digits would be very difficult. Recognizing that numbers are difficult to remember, U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,243 created a lock for which colors and symbols might be used for combinations in place of numbers.
For most people, especially children and the elderly, words are much easier to remember than numbers. Words are the natural way in which humans communicate with each other. However, creating a lock comprised of words has required lock mechanisms to have 26 tumbler positions (A-Z) (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,589). This would require a much more expensive lock hardware mechanism with 26 rather than 10 tumbler positions. Additionally these patents describe locks with one letter per tumbler position and would require many more sets of tumblers to contain enough letters to spell out words. The combination locks commercially available today all use ten tumbler positions (0-9) and no more than 4 tumblers (0000-9999) and has precluded the production of commercially viable locks using letters, to spell words.
With existing lock mechanisms the user purchases the lock with the set of tumblers and numbers as supplied by the lock manufacturer. While the user can set or change the combination (U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,348, and others), they can only set or change it using the numbers supplied by the lock manufacturer. The numbers are fixed on a set of rings (denoted tumbler rings herein) which, in some locks can be adjusted to set a desired unlocking combination. A combination lock, once purchased is only able to be set to the digits between 0000 and 9999, in the case of a four-tumbler combination lock. Furthermore, there is no method of differentiating one combination lock from another, as they all contain the same 0000 to 9999.
Many combination locks have been patented that allow the user to set and change the combination of numbers (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,445,348 and 5,109,684 and 4,615,191 etc.). These all describe combination locks with numbers. There have also been locks that allow the user to create words (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,589). These all describe combination locks that require 26 tumbler positions to create meaningful words. They also describe locks that would use one letter per tumbler position and would require many more than 4 tumblers to create meaningful words.
One lock describes the use of colors in an attempt to create a lock with combination that are easier to remember than numbers (U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,243)
The present invention is a customizable combination locking system using textual combinations. The principle object of the present invention is to provide a method to create a lock that is capable of being set in any desired set of letters that spells words that are easy for the user to remember. These words are supplied as a list and the tumbler positions are created from that list. The resultant lock would be commercially viable, as it will use existing standard lock mechanisms comprised of tumblers with ten positions (0-9) and two, three, or four tumblers.
The letters that appear in each of the ten positions have been selected through the described process. Having been selected, each lock is capable of being set to one of several thousand actual word combinations.